Tuesday, August 23, 2011

As I reflect on my game plan I am reminded that when you plan you’re teaching exercises, it really benefit both the teacher and the student’s involved. The creation of this game plan has prepared me better for instruction, new learning ideas, more challenges and the use of technology to assist in learning.
A new learning that resulted from the creation of this game plan is the experiences of having students create digital stories instead of hand written reports. This aspect for me is very exciting, students will become more involved in their own learning experience when they are involved, they will become self directed learners. Dr Peggy Erthner states that students can become self-directed learners by evaluating themselves (Laureate Education 2009). The project assisted students to evaluate themselves using technological tools.
Moving forward there will be some changes in my instruction practice. One of the changes that will be implemented is the use of education networks, where students may collaborate with other via social networking sites to gain information and ideas. Viki Davis suggested that educational networks will allow them to interact with peers around the world, to have authentic audiences for their work, and provided for them ongoing feedback (Laureate 2009). This is extremely essential process in learning.
Another immediate adjustment that will be made in my instructional practice is the creation or rubrics, so student will have clear understanding of the teachers’ expectations. This is a great feedback tool for students. Dr. Peggy Erthner, states that reflection is used as a daily check point, this allows them to be able to synthesize information that they have been learning (Laureate Education 2009). Using www.rubistart.com will certainly help to accomplish this goal.
The use of creating students blogs, and wikis so students may easily upload work such as assignments, embed videos are also some of the changes that will be interjected into my instructional practice. Having a more problem based learning environment will assist in the implementation of technology in the curriculum. Dr Peggy Erthener supports this, by stating the problem based learning provides the anchor for your curriculum. (Laureate Education 2009)
In concluding, this course has taught me to really ensure me that you can integrate technology as well as problem-based learning, social networking/online collaboration, and digital storytelling into your instruction, all it takes it planning.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

In order to accomplish this game plan to inspire creativity I have embarked on several iniatives.

The creation of a website is on the plan for this week. However we have encountered some challenges. One in particular is to research and collation of information to be placed on the website. So I have incorporated to help of a few other teachers to assist me with this project. This will inturn give them a bit of insight into the plans to reach students using technological tools.

Another the difficuties that we have encounted was an appropiate design for the website, even though there are so many free website information some of them are very limited, but after communicating with few experts in the field we decided to use http://www.yola.com/, which is a free website hosting site but it also helps you along the way with designing and their are many other tools you can add to make it look great.

We have also created the blog for communication and feedback so that when the website is done, we will place a link on the front page so that students can navigate there to express themselves.

Another step that has taken in the line of parent involvement is to ask to President of the PTA (Parents and Teachers Associations) about having a forum to ecourage parents to tbe digitally lieterate. We both agree that an ICT workshop just before school opens will be ideal.

Lastly my game plan involves a personal goal, to be more organized in the classroom, so this week I have started preparing for lessons for the start of the school year

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

This game plan involves all persons involved in learning process, the parent, the student, and the teacher. We will explore the actions of using technology to inspire students to be creative.

One of the avenue that will be explored is the bridging of the gap between parents and students involvement. Therefore it is imperative that an account be created at engrade and give both parents and students access to their assignments and grades, this will enable parents to see what assignments are due and the progress of their child. So far I have put this project into practice, for the new school year by emailing all parents about the new approach that will be taken to involve them in their children learning.

Another game plan is to communicate with parents the importance of becoming digitally literate to that they can inturn helps our students to accomplish thier goals. This will be done by having an ICT workshop. Some parent do not know how to navigate on the internet, this workshop is to help them through the process.

Using the NETS standard more effectively in my classroom I will create a technology enriched learning environment. As an instructor I must ensure that I prepare my instruction better by taking the time to prepare better instruction for my students. Therefore I have taken the time out to start my lesson plans using virtual tutorials and PowerPoint presentation to ensure that I am ready for the new school year.

I also plan to create a website that is interactive with both students and teachers to communicate via a message board, blogs, or emails, also in implementing the game plan into instructional methods students will be asked to use voicethreads, powerpoint and videos to present thier findings on subjects area.

With these objectives to carry out my game plan students will be creative gain inspiration in the classroom

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Creating a game plan is an essential step in the process of integrating technology in the classroom. I am first year college teacher, who lecturer in the Business Department of our State College. The subject that I have chosen to develop my game plan is the enhancement of quality Customer Care.

My game plan to inspire and facilitate student learning and creativity is to introduce technology to them as a way of life. This method will be used to help reinforce the importance of its use to help them to be creative in their learning experience. As a teacher one of my goals are to give them computer based tutorials, according to the book; Technology Integration for Meaningful use in the Classroom, the authors indicates that these tutorials provide a complete lesson on a specific topic including 1) presenting new information 2) providing practice and 3) evaluating student learning. The authors continue to exclaim that computer tutorials have the advantage of being able to provide sophisticated, feedback at the level needed by individual students. ( Cannamo Ross Ertmer) The implementation of these tutorials in my quality customer service care class will help students to understand the subject area more, and also give them an experience with the use of technology in our lesson

Another goal that can be established is the use to Concept maps; this can be achieved with the use of software called webspiration. This helps student to organize knowledge and present knowledge that they have learnt. The authors of the book; Technology integration for meaningful use in the classroom, states that students are forced to think about how concepts in a domain fit together and to identify additional ideas or concepts that need to be included.(Cannamo Ross Ertmer) This is an excellent plan of action because students are able put different steps in together, in order to be better customer service agents.

In order to take action, my classroom I will create a technology enriched learning environment. Each student will have access to their computer, along with wireless connection on the internet, outside the classroom environment. When they are in the classroom they will access to an interactive white boards, to help with their learning experience. As an instructor I must ensure that I prepare my instruction. According the authors in the book, Technology Integration for Meaningful use in the Classroom, they advice to make sure that resources are loaded properly. (Cannamo Ross Ertmer) Nothing is more distracting when as a teacher we are not prepared. This consumes a lot of time and the students leave more unlearnt that they came.

According to Dr. Ertmer, technology should be approach with confidence; you must believe that it can work and you must have content knowledge (Laureate Education 2009). This I believe is important for the implementation of technology in the classroom.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

To this very intresting part of the course called "Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas". I love blogging and I hope your will enjoy it as much as I have. I have used this blog before for several classes, so you may look around and see what you can learn until we meet here again.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

As I reflect on all the various theories and learning practices coupled with technology has certainly enhance my knowledge of learning and using my students more. The book Theoretical Foundation; the author indicates that, most theorists identify three modalities for learning, auditory, visual, and kinaesthetic. (Lever-Duffy & Mc Donald 2008) Some students learn best by listening, while others are visual, yet some are practical learners they must be engaged in order for learning to be successful. According to their learning styles student will exemplify their behaviour to align themselves with learning environment. As a teacher we should be aware of the difference in students and create curriculums and instruction to meet the expectations of our students.As technology become more rampant in our society. The challenge to be creative to reach students with multiple learning styles has become overwhelming. As a teacher I concur with the authors in the book Theoretical Foundations emphasizes the need for teachers to have an awareness of his or her own teaching style to be able to adjust it to meet the needs of the learners. (Lever-Duffy & Mc Donald, 2008) When a teacher is cognizant of his or her teaching style, the transition of using technology to emphasize learning becomes a simple task.Adjustment that I would make immediately, are the webspiration to enhance students ability to learn. Making use of concept-mapping will facilitate students to dissect information into a more meaningful way. Another adjustment that I would make is the use of voice thread this will enable me to give them a chance to gain access to lesson outside of the classroom. They may use it as a reflection and review tool to capsulate concepts that they have missed or did not quite understand. Another way that voice threading can be beneficial to the students is the idea of having them construct their own artifacts. The use of PowerPoint presentation can be extremely valuable to students not for teacher to just illustrate, but to use this software as an interactive tool for students.. This will meet the expectation of students who are visual, practical and audible learners. According to the book Theoretical Foundations, the authors emphasizes that teaching learning and technology work together to achieve the ultimate goal of effective knowledge transfer. (Lever-Duffy & Mc Donald, 2008)In my reflection, I have discovered that the need for long term goals. Therefore, I will assess each student as an individual and not collaboratively assuming that all learning styles are equal. This I must do in to order to improve learning within my classroom. I will endeavour to meet and exceed their expectations/Another goal that must be implemented is the use for more appropriate technological use for assessment. When students are clear with their progress, they become more enthusiastic about learning. In order to accomplish this I post all grades online into software call engrade, so that both students and parents can carefully see the progress that each students are making with the classroom. I will also use more interactive methods to reach student to make learning more interactive for them”. Such as introducing a whiteboard concept to the classroom.

About Me

I am a Lecturer at the Antigua State college, with over ten years experience in the technolgy industry.
I love teaching it my passion, i did not started out that way, but now that I am in it, I cannot stop
I have two beautiful Children ages 5 and 4 years. They are a hand full, but I love them anyway. I am also a Microsoft Authorized Instructor, using the productivity software.
I love singing; drama, and motivating youth around the world.